Review on 🔭 ESSLNB 25-75 x 70 BAK4 Monocular Telescope with Tripod Phone Adapter - Compact Waterproof Spotting Scope, Ideal for Target Shooting, Hunting, and Bird Watching by Tyrone Lyons

I usually don't write reviews if I don't like or don't like something. In this case I am pleased to say that I am very satisfied with this purchase. I ordered this spotting scope for an upcoming trip to the Grand Canyon. I wanted something small and light for air travel, but inexpensive and of course the best optics in my price range. I also wanted to "digiscopy" (take long distance photos with my smartphone) as I'm an avid bird watcher, but I don't want to carry around tons of camera gear. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much for the price, but I'm very surprised at how good this scope is. I will say that I am not a beginner. I've had fairly expensive spotters (Swarovski and Leica), but after the airlines "lost" my $2,000 TeleVid 77 on my last trip, I'm hesitant to travel with Swarovski. So I'm looking for something very good but not too expensive. This spotting scope meets all requirements perfectly. Package Contents: 70mm spotting scope, zoom eyepiece, table tripod, eyepiece and lens attachment caps, soft carrying case, basic manual, lens cleaning cloth and universal smartphone. Adapter. Spotting Scope: This scope features rubber armor, water and fog protection, and a decent-sized 70mm objective lens with an anti-reflective coating. It has a standard ¼-20 tripod mount so it can be used on the included tabletop tripod or any standard photography tripod. The included ring mount allows you to rotate the visor radially and has a convenient lock in both horizontal and vertical positions. The lens hood is firmly attached and pops out, simply flip out when needed. Shade is also good for preventing dew from forming on the front lens in humid environments. The focuser works smoothly, without noticeable end play and with a slight shift in the image when changing direction. The internal prism is made of BAK4 type porro glass which provides a straight and fully corrected (left to right) image in the eyepiece. The image through the scope is bright, with good contrast and very few false colors. Eyepiece: The eyepiece is a screw-on zoom lens with a magnification range of 25x-75x. It has soft rubber eye protection and a long eye relief feature that is comfortable for those who wear glasses. Anti-reflective coatings ensure good contrast. The included eyepiece cover completely covers the eyepiece to protect the zoom mechanism from dust and weather when not in use. The zoom is smooth and linear, requiring very little refocusing. Tripod: The tripod is a very light table tripod with an easily adjustable handle (simply straighten and rotate the handle to lock both axes). It places the scope about 10 inches from the table and is fairly sturdy. You can also use any standard photo tripod. soft case. The included soft case perfectly fits the scope and tripod and features an adjustable strap, Velcro closure and internal divider. It measures approximately 14 inches long, 7 inches deep and 4 inches wide. With everything in the case, it only weighs about 3 pounds 12 ounces. It looks good made of high quality material. Photo adapter: The included smartphone adapter fits easily on my extra large Galaxy S6 Plus. It was relatively easy to install and set up. It seems quite stable and holds my phone securely. I only had to use a very low camera zoom to remove all vignetting and get a perfect corner-to-corner image on the phone screen. This type of setting is also useful for group view. Final Thoughts: Buy it, you will love it. The optics are exceptionally good for this price range. With careful focusing, chromatic aberration is very low even where there are bright bright and dark edges at high magnification. This is an exceptional case for a scope in this price range. The field of view is wide and bright with great contrast. Overall I am very happy with my purchase and would buy again without hesitation. The perfect travel scope I was looking for. Compact, light and good looking and if the airlines "lose" this I won't pay months again! PROS: 1. Really great spotting scope for the price 2. Very good optics. Compact, light weight, well built.4. Willingness to digiscope 5. Bright views with good contrast6. Extremely low chromatic aberration for the price. CONS: 1. They really invested in building this scope and given the low price I feel I'm a little picky to say here. An improvement that would be nice to see would be a more substantial sight. It has 2 small "pips" on the left side that are functional but a bit small for my old eyes. But I've found that aiming the scope is easy if I just zoom out to 25x to get the widest field of view and I don't need the pips site at all anyway.